Dear O'Abby: What happens next?

 Dear O'Abby,

I just got a publishing contract from a small press.  I'm super excited because this is the first time I've had a novel accepted after querying agents and publishers for over five years and with three different books.  I've signed the contract and sent it back and they've sent me a fully executed one so it's all real!

But what happens next?  I know you have published with a small press, so I'm wondering if you can share the next steps with me?  I hate not knowing what to expect.

Sincerely,

Almost There

Dear Almost There,

Congratulations!  I know how amazing it feels to finally get a yes after years and years of no.  And it will be even more amazing for you once you finally get to hold a copy in your hand!  Assuming, of course, yours is not an e-book only publisher.  But even that's pretty darn exciting!

In terms of next steps, the first one is waiting. Sorry, I know you've probably already done a ton of that, but there's more.  I don't know how quickly your publisher turns things around, but mine is fairly quick and generally I get a first round of edits from the editor assigned to me within 6-8 weeks of having a book accepted. Once I've turned those around, a second round of edits tends to happen fairly quickly afterward.

In terms of edits, don't worry too much about them.  I've published with two small presses now, and neither of them have asked for anything substantial in terms of edits; it's mainly been just fitting things to their style guide.  I've never had to substantially change anything (other than a character's age once, which I rankled at a little).

Once you've turned around your edits, you will likely be told when the book is due to come out.  And not long after that, you should get cover art to look at and approve.  My current publisher is really responsive to feedback on covers and has completely re-done two of mine because I really wasn't happy with the first attempt.  I'm lucky in that sense.  I don't believe all publishers are that collaborative, but if you hate what they send, let them know.  Don't just accept it.

My publisher tends to publish e-book first, followed by print a few weeks later.  So not long after you approve your cover art, you should get e-book files and, if your publisher creates them, some marketing materials.  Once you have these things, you can kickstart your promotional campaign.  Most small presses don't do a whole lot of promo for you, so the bulk of marketing and publicity will fall to you. 

 It's good to make sure you have a decent amount of lead time available once you have your cover art and e-book files because this is the really time consuming part.  You will want to contact reviewers and book bloggers and anyone else who can help you get the word out about your book before it releases.  I've even asked my publisher to hold back the release date in the past, just because I know I need at least 6-8 weeks to get this work done - even with a really good database of people who have reviewed my stuff before.

And then...  You're book is out.  And hopefully reviews start coming in.  And readers respond to it in the way you want them to.  

Best of luck!  And do write back and let us know when the book is available.

X O'Abby

Cover Reveal: DEADWOOD by Kell Andrews

I am often excited about cover reveals, but this is the first one I'm nervous about -- my own MG debut, DEADWOOD! Instead of biting my nails, I'll get right to it:

 

 

How gorgeous is that? The amazing cover artist, Shawna Tenney, captured the characters and scene perfectly -- just as I pictured it but a thousand times more vivid. 

DEADWOOD is coming from Pugalicious Press in late 2012. Here's what it's about:

There’s something evil in Deadwood Park.

Twelve-year-old Army brat Martin Cruz hates his rotten new town. Then he gets a message from a tree telling him it’s cursed — and so is he. It’s not just any tree. It’s the Spirit Tree, the ancient beech the high school football team carves to commemorate the home opener. And every year they lose.

But the curse is no game, and it gets worse. Businesses fail. Trees topple like dominos. Sinkholes open up in the streets, swallowing cars and buildings. Even people begin to fade, drained of life.

Martin teams up with know-it-all soccer star Hannah Vaughan. Together they must heal the tree, or be stuck in Deadwood Park at the mercy of the psycho who cursed it.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on the DEADWOOD cover! And I'd really love it if you added it to your "to-read" list on Goodreads. Thanks so much!

The Stubborn Shall Conquer the Earth: Announcement

About a month ago, I posted about rejection and how I was grateful for the hard journey. If you haven't read my post, you can catch it here.

Well, ironically enough, exactly 1 week after I posted this blog entry, I received an offer of publication from Month 9 Books. 

Here is my Publisher's Marketplace listing.

In case you can't read it, it says:

Children's: Young Adult
Kristal Shaff's debut THE EMISSARY, in which a seventeen-year-old must defeat an ageless king and his powerful army in order to save their land from a cloud of darkness that threatens to destroy him, and those like him, who possess one of six deadly powers, to Courtney Koschel at Month9Books, in a two-book deal, for publication in December 2013 (World).

I want to send my OA ladies, and my writing friends, a BIG thanks. It's been a really long and difficult journey. It goes to prove that perseverance--and a dose of stubborn, hardheadedness--does pay off.

Angela Townsend: Journey of Amarok and Zombies

If you were to ask me, what was the most exciting event of my writing career, I would tell you it was getting the call. Although it actually started with an email and then a phone call.

I came home after a very long day to find an email message from my super-agent, Jill Corcoran. It said I had an offer from Spencer Hill Press. I can honestly say for a fraction of a millisecond, I felt like it just couldn’t be real. So many, many emotions poured over me I couldn’t even think straight.

Gathering myself together, I immediately called my agent Jill. The first thing I wanted to do was to thank her for not letting me give up when I wanted to toss in the towel, for cheering me on and for giving me advice on how to make my manuscript stronger.

Jill Corcoran is truly an amazing agent who rolls up her sleeves and fights hard for her clients. Thank you Jill!

The next few weeks were like a whirlwind. Working with Spencer Hill Press was an awesome experience. I learned so much in the following weeks.

Kate Kaynak, editor in chief of Spencer Hill press, is an absolute genius in the publishing field. She assigned me the fabulous Kendra Saunders as head of marketing for Amarok. Kendra not only provides awesome marketing feedback for Amarok, but she is a positive person filled with encouragement and endless energy for my project.   

After all the blood, sweat and tears and then more tears…My novel Amarok will be in print, November 2012!   

Anyone interested in Amarok Swag? Please email Angela with your snail-mail address and email I’d be glad to send you some.

***

On May 15th, please tune in to my Zombie Radio broadcast. Here is a little more on the program:

Zombie movies have always been a hit, but in the last 10 years they have multiplied. And it's not just TV. Zombies are taking over the television, books, and even ambling down our streets. (Has your town hosted a Zombie walk yet?)

Join us as the Geek Chicks and a special guest host to talk about everything ZOMBIE! It will be a blast. Find out more information HERE.

Set in Stone

I'm currently working on a revision of DEADWOOD for my editor, and it's nerve-wracking. It's not nerve-wracking because I can't do it, or because I disagree with her suggestions. It's nerve-wracking because it's getting close to final.

I have already worked through the editorial letter, and I'm still tweaking, refining, and hopefully improving. But no book is ever perfect, and I am not a perfect writer. But at some point, I will just have to just stop. I've already decided when it was ready to show to beta readers, then when it was ready to query.

But ready for copy editing? Ready for layout? Ready for readers and reviewers? This is the scariest leap of all -- being really done, setting those words into stone.

How do you know when you're ready for a book to take the next step? How do you decide when it's time to hit send? When you get sick of it? When you can't tell how to improve? When a lucky date or an unmissable opportunity shows up?

Fortunately or unfortunately, this time I have a deadline. I'll be finished when that day comes.

How to Have Fun With the Crickets in Your Inbox

A good friend of mine has just started querying, and another close friend will be soon. I am currently on submission and waiting on responses from publishers, and I have a few other friends waiting on pub responses as well. Which means we are pretty much all basket cases.

Querying and submitting are tough. The hardest part, by far, is the inevitable rejection. However, the WAITING is a close second. How many obsessive email checkers are out there? Come on, raise your hands...you know who you are *she says as her own hand waves proudly* My writers buddies call that sad emptiness inside their inboxes Crickets...'cause that's all you hear when you open the box ;-)

Now, I queried my fiction for a long time. Not intentionally. But, every time I decided to shelve my book, another request would come in, and then some nice rejections with a few revision suggestions will squeak by...so I'd revise, send out a few more queries, get a few requests, get a few rejections, decide to shelve again, get some more suggestions.....well, you can see how this goes. And once I got an agent and we started submitting to publishers, well, the waiting got worse. Like REALLY worse :D Now I get to wait on my agent to send revision notes (or to pass on a book idea completely), and waiting on publishers to say yea or nay to buying your book is nerve wracking in the extreme...especially because it can take soooo lonnnng.

However...

I've been doing it long enough now that I've gotten pretty good at just ignoring the fact that I even have submissions out. The crickets can still get pretty irritating though. So I came up with a few ways to distract myself from them.

1. Spam Your Friends

Now this one is fun :D Especially if they are waiting on responses too. Because you know every time they get a message saying they have email, their heart jumps a little (wicked, ain't I?) ;-)

I dig up funny stories, pictures, etc to put a smile on their faces, so it's not a total evil past time :D I mean, it's fun to get mail, even if it's not from an agent or publisher.

Oh, and this ONLY works on very good friends. Never, NEVER spam an agent. They will not appreciate your message full of funnies. They have enough mail to read. If you send them more, it will just take that much longer to get to whatever query or submission you are waiting on, and that wouldn't be good.

2. LOLcats

Ah, what a wonderful distraction. I am pretty heavily addicted to LOLcats. The dogs, celebrities, political jokes, graphs, and FAILs are pretty hilarious as well. Not only can you spend hours reading (and emailing) these, you can also make your own. Tons of fun!

3. Research a New Project

Okay, this might only be fun for me. And maybe a few select others. So...moving on...

4. Blogs

Read them, write them, search them, comment on them, follow them....you get the picture ;-)

And, while there are many, many, MANY other things you could do to distract yourself from the pesky crickets, the single best way is...

5. WRITE

Pull out a new project and write. Focus on something besides the book you are querying or submitting. Lose yourself in the world of a new character. There is nothing like get swept away in a new story. Get excited about it, swim in it, devote all your available brain space and some that is not so available to it. Pretty soon you'll find that you don't even hear the crickets anymore :)

How do you distract yourself from those crickets?